{"id":309119,"date":"2026-01-29T03:28:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T03:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/309119\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T03:28:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T03:28:13","slug":"five-english-teams-make-it-to-champions-league-elite-phase-as-benficas-keeper-stuns-real-madrid-with-last-gasp-goal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/309119\/","title":{"rendered":"Five English teams make it to Champions League elite phase as Benfica\u2019s keeper stuns Real Madrid with last-gasp goal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Manchester<\/p>\n

Manchester City’s Erling Haaland (left) celebrates scoring his side’s first goal in the 2-0 win over Galatasaray. Picture: PA Media<\/p>\n

\"Benfica's<\/p>\n

Benfica’s Anisio Cabral celebrates scoring in the dramatic victory over Real Madrid.<\/p>\n

\"thumbnail:\"thumbnail:<\/p>\n

The domination of English clubs in this season\u2019s Champions League was highlighted as five Premier League teams secured a top-eight finish as the group stage concluded in thrilling fashion.<\/p>\n

The biggest shock of the night came as Real Madrid were beaten by Jose Mourinho\u2019s Benfica, which ended their hopes of a top-eight finish in a game that served up the most dramatic of finishes.<\/p>\n

Benfica needed a last-gasp header from goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin to secure a 4-2 win, with that late goal enough to send Mourinho\u2019s side through to the play-offs amid scenes of wild celebrations that ended Marseille\u2019s hopes of a play-off. Benfica will now play Real Madrid once again in the play-offs.<\/p>\n

Arsenal were assured of their passage to the last-16 after winning their first seven group stage games this season, with a 3-1 win against Kazakhstan rivals FC Kairat at Emirates Stadium completing a perfect set of results for the Gunners as they topped the vast 36-team table.<\/p>\n

Below them was a who\u2019s who of England\u2019s top flight, with Liverpool\u2019s thumping 6-0 win against Qarabag at Anfield securing Arne Slot\u2019s side a third place finish in the table, one ahead of Tottenham after their impressive win in Germany against Eintracht Frankfurt.<\/p>\n

\"Benfica's<\/p>\n

Benfica’s Anisio Cabral celebrates scoring in the dramatic victory over Real Madrid.<\/p>\n

Barcelona bounced back from the shock of conceding an early goal against FC Copenhagen to secure a 4-1 win that gave them a fifth-placed finish in the final group table, with Marcus Rashford scoring the last of Barca\u2019s goals from a free-kick.<\/p>\n

A late Joao Pedro goal against Napoli gave Chelsea the win they needed to seal a top-eight finish and a last-16 spot, with Erling Haaland scoring Manchester City\u2019s opening goal as they got the win they needed against Galatasaray at the Etihad Stadium to secure progress.<\/p>\n

Newcastle were the only English team that missed out on a prized top-eight finish, as a commendable 1-1 draw with champions PSG for Eddie Howe\u2019s side left both the Toon Army and their opponents in Paris facing up to the prospect of a play-off game next month. Harvey Barnes missed a late chance to secure a win.<\/p>\n

There was also drama in Bilbao, as a late goal from Alisson Santos secured Sporting a win against Athletic Club that saw the Portuguese side snatch automatic progress to the last-16.<\/p>\n

There was also a notable win for Bodo\/Glimt against Atletico Madrid, which ended the hopes of the Spanish side claiming a top eight finish and secured the Norwegian underdogs a place in the play-offs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester City’s Erling Haaland (left) celebrates scoring his side’s first goal in the 2-0 win over Galatasaray. Picture:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[2725,2052,18,19,17,2724,2353,1270,132,3613],"class_list":{"0":"post-309119","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-arsenal","9":"tag-chelsea","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-kevin-palmer","14":"tag-manchester-city","15":"tag-newcastle-united","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-tottenham-hotspur"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115976267875384605","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}